Advanced search, file system, and intelligent assistant agent

Abstract

The present invention presents embodiments of methods, systems, and computer-readable media for advanced computer file organization, computer file and web search and information retrieval, and intelligent assistant agent to assist a user's creative activities. The embodiments presented herein categorize search results based on the keywords used in the search, provide user selectable ranking, use user's search objectives and advices to refine search, conduct search within an application program and using a file based, provide always-on search that monitors changes over a period of time, provide a high level file system that organizes files into categories, according to relations among files, and in ranking orders along multiple categorization and ranking dimensions and multiple levels of conceptual relationships, conduct searches for associations between keywords, concepts, and propositions, and provide validations of such associations to assist a user's creative activity.

1 . A method comprising: 
 extracting one or more search elements from at least one designated file in one or more processing devices;    generating one or more search requests using the extracted search elements;    submitting the generated search requests to a search program; and    receiving search results from the search program.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a search element is one or more of the following: 
 one or more keywords; a characteristic of a file; a category of a file; a textual description of a preference of the search; and an objective of the search.    
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising responsive to a user viewing, writing, editing or processing a file in an application program, designating the file so that the one or more search requests are generated using the file.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising displaying the search results associated with a search element extracted from the at least one designated file in one or more of the following conditions: when search results are received from a search program; when the search element in the at least one designated file is currently displayed in an application program's window; and when the user selects the search element in the at least one designated file.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising incorporating one or more hyperlinks with a search element or element combination in a file, and responsive to the user using an input device to select one or more of the hyperlinks, displaying the search results associated with the search element or element combination.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising performing one or more of the following processes on the search results: filtering; categorizing; ranking; and extracting an abstract or summary from the search results.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more search requests include requests to search one or more of the following: files in one or more specified sources; files that are listed in or linked to entries in a recent document folder; and files that are recorded in or linked to items that are recorded in a web browser's history log or favorites folder of the user.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 generating repeated search requests;    submitting the generated search request to a search program over a period of time based on a schedule; and    receiving search results from the search program.    
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising detecting changes between search results of a first search performed at a first time and a second search performed at a second time later than the first time, and informing a user when a change is detected.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein detecting changes between the second search results and the first search results further comprises comparing a digital digest computed from the second search results with a digital digest computed from the first search results.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the repeated search requests comprise search requests for searching a list of specified sources, and further comprising detecting changes in the sources listed in the first list of specified sources.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising responsive to a user using an input device to designate a file, generating one or more search requests from the file selected by the user, executing a search program on a processing device operated by the user to search files stored in one or more storage devices communicatively coupled with the processing device operated by the user to carry out the one or more search requests, and displaying names of or links to files that are found by the search program based on the one or more search requests generated from the file selected by the user.  
   
   
       13 . A method comprising: 
 extracting a first predicate or proposition from a textual content of one or more information entities;    generalizing the first predicate or proposition to a first set of one or more generalized predicates or propositions that are related to the first predicate or proposition, wherein the first predicate or proposition is a member of the first set of one or more generalized predicates or propositions; and    processing the one or more information entities or the textual content of the one or more information entities from which the first predicate or proposition is extracted, based on the first set of one or more generalized predicates or propositions.    
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein an information entity is one or more of the following: a file in a storage device; an input provided by a user; a database; a program; a log of one or more users' activities over a period of time; and a file that a user is currently reading, writing or editing, or has recently read, written or edited.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein generalizing the first predicate or proposition comprises replacing at least one part of the first predicate or proposition with a description that captures at least one semantic meaning of the replaced part.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein processing the textual contents of the one or more information entities comprises one or more of the following: categorizing or ranking the information entities or textual content of the information entities; determining whether a generalized predicate or proposition has a relationship with another predicate or proposition; and submitting a first generalized predicate or proposition from the first set of one or more generalized predicates or propositions to a search program to find one or more files that contain a second predicate or proposition that has a relationship with the first generalized predicate or proposition.  
   
   
       17 . A method comprising: 
 analyzing contents of one or more storage devices;    identifying, within the contents of the one or more storage devices, files that are related;    creating and recording links between the files that are related; and    displaying recorded links to files related to a first file when the first file is selected or opened in an application window.    
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein identifying files that are related comprises identifying two files as related if both contain the same or similar keywords, concepts, predicates, propositions, patterns, both are related to the same transaction or project, both are created, edited or viewed within a same period of time, or both are authored by the same person or related persons.  
   
   
       19 . A method comprising: 
 providing a user interface that accepts a first description of a search and one or more lists of links from a user, wherein the one or more lists of links comprise one or more of the following: a list of URL links in a history log of a web browser; a list of links in a favorites folder of a web browser; a list of links to files in a recent documents folder; and a list of links to files in a set of designated folders; and    obtaining search results from a search of files that are linked by an entry in the one or more lists of links and containing information that matches the first description.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising one of more of the following: providing a user interface that allows a user to select which lists of links to be included; providing a user interface that allows a user to define a list of links are to be included; providing a user interface that allows a user to use one or more lists of links located on another processing device on a network; accessing or downloading the files that are linked to in the one or more lists of links, and performing on a processing device operated by a user the search in the files that are linked to in the one or more lists of links for information or files that contain information that match the first description; and grouping search results obtained from a list of links into a category for the list of links.